Sunday, October 3, 2004

Good reading In today's Boston Globe, a nice article on Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) and Jack Cole: Former Cop Changes Sides in Nation's War on Drugs: ''Right now the people that control and regulate drugs are the dealers," Cole said. ''They tell us what will be distributed to the community, what the purity will be, how much it will cost and who and where it will be sold. And then we see to it that they get all the profits." Cole wants drugs controlled by the government, heavily taxed, and easily accessible to adults. And he wants to see some of the $69 billion a year ''thrown down the rat hole" used to educate Americans about drugs. He points to the campaign to inform Americans about tobacco, which cut use nearly in half in eight years. ''And we did it without incarcerating a single human being." It's nice to see that the Anchorage Press (Alaska) has reprinted Ethan Nadelmann's wonderful article that first appeared in the National Review last month: An End to Marijuana Prohibition. It's particularly good that Alaska is seeing that article -- it could have a positive impact on the referendum. It's also worth reading again. It's really good. And it's a perfect article for you to give to someone who is wanting to learn more about every aspect of marijuana and legalization. Ethan answers all the major propaganda, myths, and frequently asked questions about marijuana. 4:17:30 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []

Local marijuana seizure I'm not sure where the seizure happened, but I live in Bloomington, just a few blocks from I-55, so it was pretty close. Reported in the Pantagraph: BLOOMINGTON -- What began as a routine traffic stop Thursday on Interstate 55 ended with the arrest of a Texas man and the seizure of 1,600 pounds of marijuana valued at $1.6 million, prosecutors say. ... In court Friday, Assistant State's Attorney Jeff Horve said an Illinois State Police trooper stopped Anguiano on I-55 because the license plate on his semitrailer truck was dangling from a wire.  An inspection followed in which police found 17 pallets containing 1,600 pounds of marijuana, Horve said. ... Anguiano, 32, reportedly has no prior record.  He is from Weslaco, a town of 26,935 people on the southernmost tip of Texas in the Rio Grande Valley. Of course, Anguiano is just the driver -- probably some poor slob who knows nothing operation, but was promised the opportunity to get rich quick. The interesting thing to me is that the truck had the license plate dangling from a wire. It's sloppy. Now it's possible that everyone from the top down is equally dumb, but I doubt it. It seems to indicate that $1.6 million worth of pot is simply such a small part of the operation that it's not worth the effort to oversee the details of such things like vehicle inspections. Yep, they lose a truck, 1,600 pounds of pot, and a schmuck driver, and they probably write it off as a normal cost of business -- not much different to them than the DVD that gets shoplifted at Wal-Mart. Gives you a sense of the economic scale of the criminal black-market that is created by prohibition, doesn't it? 1:48:43 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []